Lemons to Lemonade

When life gives you LEMONS make LEMONADE
Nothing says SUMMER like a glass of lemonade.

LIFE is a bunch of little lessons.
The question is ...
Does the little life lesson become
a BITTER
or SWEET experience?

Some BITTER feelings include
*Fear*
*Anger*
*Harsh judgement*
*Guile*

SWEET feelings include
*Knowledge*
*Peace*
*Understanding*
*Truth*

The best way to change BITTER lemons
to SWEET lemonade
is to add SUGAR.
The best & purest sugar (don't use the artificial stuff!)
is service or good works.
It is through good works that you come to appreciate the
truly SWEET things in life.

Fear turns to Knowledge
Anger turns to Peace

Harsh judgement turns to Understanding
and
Guile turns to Truth


Make LEMONADE today!
You'll find it very REFRESHING!

MAY - the CRAZIEST month of the year!

May is busier than December
From field trips, to end of the year parties, to sporting events and recitals.
There is so much that goes on the month that school gets out.
Haleigh with her best friend Kelsey on the bus
during their 3 day 8th grade trip to Savannah.

Ammon's field day at Daves Creek Elementary

Caleb's spring football training.

Haleigh, Caleb, Ms. Lydia Culpepper (their teacher) and Ammon
after their piano recital.

Ammon at his gymnastics demonstration.

It will be nice to have things slow down a bit now that school is out.
But then again, SUMMER brings
Scout camps, Girls Camp, EFY, Family vaction and trips,
Football conditioning, Basketball clinics, Volleyball camps,
Maybe LIFE just doesn't slow down.

Planting for Mother's Day!

What a better way to spend the week before Mother's Day!
I had been wanting to plant flowers in my flower beds and planters
for weeks. After busy weeks of Girl's Camp planning and trying to
keep up with the long list of things to do, I made time on
Tuesday, May 5 to do my flower planting.
Little did I know this would be my therapy for a very difficult weekend,
my first Mother's Day since the death of my Mom.

I went to Lowe's garden department. I always go straight to the back
of the nursery where they sell the distressed plants.
I find a thrill in the bargain prices and the ability to nurse something
back to health, a trait I got from my mom.
(I think they are all doing QUITE WELL!)

I enjoyed walking through the rows of blooming plants while
brainstorming about what flowers I would put where
and how they would look together.
I had been wondering what I could do for my mom for Mother's Day.
I spotted an area with bright pink Gerber Daisies.
They were so bright,cheery, and BEAUTIFUL!
When I saw they were planted in a pink,
breast cancer awareness pot I knew
THIS was my Mother's Day answer.
I carefully selected a plant with 6 blooms, one to
represent each of my Mom's children, my siblings, of course.
I planted it with a variety of pink and white flowers and have enjoyed
having it right outside my kitchen door.

The daisy blooms have gone for now, but there are more on their way!
Happy Mother's Day MOM! I love you!

May Mantel

BLOOM Where You're Planted
Side note: I really love having the kids do the
lettering on the smaller signs.
They do such a good job and we get 4 different "fonts"!
Sun- Ammon
Air - Me
Water - Caleb
Soil - Haleigh

In any situation we may be in we will grow.
HOW we grow is the true lesson.
Hopefully we will not only grow but BLOOM in the process.
For a plant to grow and thrive it needs four elements.
-Sun - Air - Soil - Water-
We can apply these four elements to what we in our own lives
in a myriad of ways.

It has been invaluable for me to realize that there is a difference
between things artificial.
and things real.

Artificial blooms can be beautiful.
They require little to no maintenance and
do not require water, air, soil or sun to continue
in their 'beautiful' state.
BUT they do not grow!

Real plants and blooms require constant maintenance.
They require planting, supervision, watering and pruning.
The plant grows, blooms and is beautiful.
Through time the blooms fade and need to be cut off
so fresh, new blooms can grow.
Real things are constantly changing because of growth.

I have learned to be patient with my everyday life
when it is not always "blooming".
I try to remember that my life is a living thing,
requiring constant maintenance, nurturing care
and even a bit of pruning.
Opportunities will come, bloom and then be gone.

In each of life's opportunities I tell myself.
"Bloom where you're planted,
through just doing the best that you can and
taking the time to nurture what you have been given."

Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC

Our visit to the Biltmore

Friday afternoon we made the 3 and a half hour drive to Asheville, NC.
We booked tickets to visit the Biltmore Estate early Saturday morning.
Our tour of the house began at 9:15.

Biltmore was built by George Washington Vanderbilt.
It is an AMAZING estate.
The part that impressed us most was not
the size of the house or estate,
but the feeling of hospitality and warmth
from the staff and the estate itself.
George and his wife Edith were very generous people.

We were not allowed to take pictures inside the mansion.
It took us 2 hours and 15 minutes to tour it.
Four floors and the basement,touring a total of 55 rooms plus.
AMAZING, beautiful, huge (yes), but very well thought out.

The home is FILLED with historical treasures.
To name a few favorites:
Rembraint paintings, before he was "known",
Napolean's chess set,
a replica of the banner carried by Christopher Columbus on his travels.

Some of our favorite rooms in the house:
*The Louis XV Room - bedroom with big windows at the front of the house.
*The gymnasium in the basement - dressing rooms were provided to change clothes,
it was not proper to walk through the house in your "work-out clothes".
*The billards room with two pool tables.
*The BEAUTIFUL library - showcasing George's favorite passion - books.
There were more than 10,000 volumes in 8 languages.
*The indoor pool.


LUNCH!
We ate at the Stable Cafe.
You guessed it, this is the estate's old stable with original walls, floors and stalls.
You can see behind our table the old cage
for holding hay and the watering tub (with flowers now).

The tables and benches are in between the various stalls.
GREAT food!! FUN atmosphere.


The Gardens

The South Terrace

The walls of the gardens.
This is a FUNNY picture of the kids pretending to hang off the
edge of the wall going down the steps .
The NOT funny part is, Ammon kept jumping up on top of the walls
to see and the other side of most of the walls was a
drop off of at least 30 feet!

The Walled Garden with a carpet of tulips.

It was a BEAUTIFUL and extremely enlightening visit.
We would highly recommend it to anyone.

Spring Break in Our Own Backyard!

We have lived some pretty amazing places and have found that when it comes to trip taking we tend to leave our own stomping grounds for what we think are "greener pastures".
We live in Cumming, a city 30 minutes north of Atlanta.
We decided to play tourist in our own back yard and spend a night in Atlanta.
(This is the view from our rooms on the 15th floor)

We stayed in the Omni Hotel at CNN Center.
What a view!!!
It was a beautiful hotel.
It was fun to be able to walk to Centennial Park - built for the Summer Olympics
held in Atlanta- and to the Georgia Aquarium.
We ate dinner at McKormick and Schmicks below the hotel.
It was nice not to have to leave the hotel, considering it was a blistering 38 degrees outside.
We had snow flurries on Tuesday morning!!


The GEOGIA AQUARIUM!

Haleigh, Caleb and Ammon in front of the huge tropical fish tank.
It makes it's own waves on the surface of the water
to create a true ocean atmosphere for the fish.

It was so soothing to sit and watch the thousands of fish swim in the
Ocean Voyager exhibit. There are 4 huge whale sharks in the exhibit, swimming with a variety of sharks, giant rays and other fish.

Ammon LOVED the Beluga Whales.
I can count the number of times Ammon has held still for more than
30 seconds on one hand.
This is one of those times.

*The Cyclorama*
We visited the Cyclorama located next to the Atlanta, Zoo
about 3 miles from where we were staying.
This was amazing!!
It is a 4 story oil painting and diorama depicting the
Civil War in Atlanta.
You sit in an auditorium with seats that slowly turn in a circle so you can view the entire painting.
The history behind the painting amused us.
During hard times the painting was sold to a traveling circus.
During the circus' visit to Atlanta they went bankrupt.
The owner of the Coca Cola factory purchased the HUGE painting and
the circus animals for a very small amount of money.
The cyclorama was built to hold the painting
and
they built a zoo next door to care for the circus animals,
thus the Atlanta Zoo was established.

The Civil War - brother against brother?

It was a GREAT trip. We plan to finish our week of Spring Break
in Asheville, NC visiting the Biltmore Mansion and gardens.

April Mantel

Do not condemn me for my inability to backspace and delete the missing n in condemn. I have felt the need, since I wrote it two years ago, to sand the board, repaint and rewrite the final two lines. However, I find the lesson in this ... just as the Amish, when making a quilt, purposely turn one of their quilt blocks upside down to represent their humility and being mortal, ... I look at my missing n as the same lesson for me. It reminds me of humility and that I am mortal. I need to use the atonement to overcome my mistakes and repent.
I should not condemn myself because of my shortcomings.

The final week of our Savior shown in the pictures below.
The nests of eggs in the hurricanes represent the
true meaning of Easter - new life!
A gift, given by a loving Father in Heaven
through His Son Jesus Christ,
who made the ultimate sacrifice for EACH of us.

I live for the Savior, alive who was dead.
By His loving favor our guilt can be shed.
Oh, please believe with me,
Believe His sweet plan.
Our Savior, more than man.

-Allen Smythe